Monday, October 31, 2011

Most visitors come to the Holiday Craft Fair 2011, Vancouver, West End Community Centre to view and buy holiday crafts. This year, on Nov 12th, 13th, 2011, on the West End Community Centre, 870 Denman Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, it is time to experimenting with the idea of miniature landscapes created as pictures of nature loveliness for those who are seeking out a new relaxing way of contacting nature in an urban indoor space.

A fairy landscape can be used as a whimsical centerpiece on a festive dinner . Pelargoniums trained as bonsai with lemon, mint, rose or fruit scented foliage; mini-roses, rosemary, scented-leaf rhododendrons will add a touch of magic fragrance to any miniature landscape. Accent plants like creeping thymes, hen-and-chicks (Jovibarba hirta) or sedums, are carefully chosen to stay in scale with each other and the main bonsai.
Contrasting shapes, colors, smells and textures make the miniature gardens more realistic.

The rocks make awesome boulders, low-hills or an inviting mountain-top landscape.

The bonsai and accent plants are combined with miniature accessories and characters on a tinier scale to give a
focal point and mimic elements of real life.

Stepping stones laid on diagonal curved shape give the illusion that the scenes continue ... in a parallel universe ;-) or is just a piece of a larger one (as in the " Holiday Carriage" where the road is stretching out to the second miniature garden)

"Holiday Carriage" fairy landscape with a collection of scented pelargoniums

Best of all, your fairy landscape can be considered "an ultimate pet" for those living in an apartment ;-) and not only ... Your senses will be always delighted to have a delicious - smelling edible fairy garden at your convenience.

It was a nice event (you may see the pictures), and people whose attending, found a few more options to spend time that can choose from:

together with the visiting various gardens from the VanDusen Botanical Garden and to learn about plants, they could make a "mushroom trip" through the Mushroom Show organized in the Floral Hall by Vancouver Mycological Society or buy dried flowers arrangements from The Dried Flower Sale from the Entrance Pavilion.

It is, indeed, an amazing building that stands out for a dynamic and undulating architecture in harmony with the nature, having a landing roof section that is smoothly joining with the flora of the garden.

This new botany centre should be a great place for social and cultural activities where people would learn about the world of plants and the living building philosophy. According to the project, "the building will contain design features for human delight and the celebration of culture, spirit and place", like the native orchid leaf which conveyed inspiration for the unusual shape of the roof.

I liked the idea of "sustainability in the built environment". The building's energy needs will be supplied by on-site renewable energy and the water will come from captured precipitation. Challenging seems to be to make the building 100% water independent and to clean and filter the water using plants grown in the garden.

Visitor Centre of VanDusen Botanical Garden - ground floor plan

On my ways to Vandusen Botanical Garden I passed the construct area many times... and sometimes I noticed the construction progress. This Sunday, Oct. 23, at 1pm, in the Atrium of the New Visitor Centre (5151 Oak Street at West 37th Avenue ) will be the official opening ceremony for the new building. It is time to visit it, and if you pass by, you may visit also for free the Vandusen Botanical Garden (as gift to Vancouverites the admission to the garden will be free).

The 2011 Dried Flower Sale will be in the same day in the Entrance Pavilion (10am to 4pm) where anyone can sellect an autumn symbol from a range of dried flower topiaries, wreaths, bouquets and arrangements made from materials gathered in the Garden.

What else can be more fun for a Family Thanksgiving Day than walking through the park and spending happy time together? So, we spent this day walking again to the spectacular bridges and rainforest-ways built at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.

Capilano Suspension Bridge and the Canyon of Capilano River

Started as a simple bridge made in 1889 of hemp ropes and cedar planks, the bridge
was upgraded many times over the years, nowadays being a very sturdy one, made by steel ropes
anchored by concrete stairs at both ends.

Capilano Suspension Bridge

After we passed alongside the Story Center, Kia'palano and Totem Poles Park, before
entering the bridge, we read the
information about Capilano Suspension Bridge's dimensions on the plaques installed nearby:

- "How high up is the bridge?":
" The bridge is 230 feets(70m) above Capilano River. This means if dinosaurs still ruled the
earth, it would take a stack of four full-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex to reach the bridge from the
river. Yikes! Or, if you put the Statue of Liberty in the canion, the bridge would be at
shoulder height."

- "How long is the bridge?" :
"It's very long! To be precise, Capilano Suspension Bridge is 45 feet (137m) long. In other
words, it's just about as long as two Boeing 747 airplanes wingtip-to-wingtip. And it's just as
aerodinamic!"

- "How strong is the bridge?"
" The bridge is supported by two thick steel cables, which together can hold more than 200,000
lbs (90,000kg) and sustain the weight of over 1300 people standing on it at the same time. You
could parade 96 elephants across the bridge at the same time, no problem. At least it woudn't
be a problem for the bridge. (Good luck with the elephants!)
"

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Anyhow... we did not see elephants ;-)... It was a little bit alarming when the bridge was changed the rhythm of the sway because a
group of high spirited persons tried their best on getting the bridge to swing to their
steps ;-) The best part was that we made it to the other side of the canyon and none of us felt
any touch of fear ;-)

Treetops Adventure sign at Capilano Suspension Bridge

Our way continued with the "Treetops Adventure" along the rainforest trails
where we breathed a sigh of relief as we walked high in the Hemlock, Red Cedars and Douglas Fir trees
(enjoying their scent) to a series of suspension bridges above the forest floor.

Observation Deck and rope-bridges built high in the trees

Around the
trees trunks were built various observation decks without damaging the tree in any way.

Overall, we and the kids really enjoyed our walking through Capilano Supension Bridge Park and the
views of forest, the Canyon and the Capilano River were really amazing.

We will working hard putting together a table full of gorgeous bonsai, fairy gardens and " Edible, fragrant, very useful, showy, flowering, drought resistant, little care and very forgiving..." scented pelargoniums and few more green crafts to show and sell at this event.

It is time to come to see, touch and smell by yourself our scented pelargoniums bonsai at the Table 25, in the Auditorium. The admission is free and we will be there in both days Nov. 12th and Nov. 13th from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m.

You'll find there a huge selection of booths: each overflowing with one of a kind goodies, fair specials crafted by 60+ talented local artisans and I’m sure you’ll choose the
perfect and unique gift for your loved ones in 2011 Holiday Season.

Today we enjoyed the sun, volunteering in the apple sales area. Before opening the gates, we rearranged the apple bags on the tables and learned a little bit about the varieties from our area: Silken; Sinta; SPA 493; Spencer; Spigold; Splendour; Stayman Winesap; Sundance and Winter Banana.

Sundance apples

It was a new experience... dealing with a lot of strange questions about apples' taste (crisp or soft, mild, tar or sweet), usage (desert type or good for cooking), best storage conditions, the size and vigour of
the apple trees or the differences between the apples grown conventionally and organically. We tried our best with the answers, but, believe me, it is really hard to explain what means a "sprightly and sweet" taste or to convince people that, as example, the Spigold variety (a cross between a Northern Spy and Golden Delicios) has an "outstanding complex flavour" ;-)

Spigold - the last variety of apples available for sale

Anyhow... after two hours (around 1.00 p.m.) all the apples were sold, the last variety of apples being Spigold. So, unfortunately, the good weather did create a bigger crowd than normal which led to all the apples (and not only) being sold out before the festival was over.

A full crop of apples at UBC Botanical Garden

After we done our job, we went for 3 hours in the crowd walking through The Physic Garden; The food Garden (where people enjoyed to see a full crop of apples in the apple trees), The David C. Lam Asian Garden and the Alpine Garden; listening live concerts in UBC Botanical Garden Amphitheater; eating apple pies and fudges; and drinking apple juice.

UBC Botanical Garden - landscape close to the main entrance

We found it as an educational and fun event for us, who got there at the beginning and stay there till the end, and ... we are happy that helped make this successful fundraising event for UBC Botanical Garden.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Autumn is in the air, and what else can be more representative than freshly harvested apples, changing leaves and a pumpkin patch?
Today was the first day of the 2011 UBC Apple Festival and as volunteers we had the chance to see it from a different angle. Here there are pictures behind the scene, before the start signal of the festivities.

In the Apple Testing Tent more than 60 of heritage or new crossed varieties of apples were available for tasting. We've offered samples of Jubilee, Karin Schneider Kent and Jonagold. The full list of them is available here apples_for_tasting_2011 web.pdf, but I want to mention few of them which I liked more: Grimmes Golden, Bramley seedling, Ambrosia, Rosu de Cluj, Early Fuji, Honeycrisp, Tentation, Kent, Cox’s Orange Pippin.

The Apple cultivar "Rosu de Cluj" meaning "Red of Cluj" (misspelled "Rosu du Kluj") was obtained in 1966 at Fruit Research Station Cluj-Napoca Romania as a cross between Jonathan and Senator varieties. How do I know? Just because it is one of my favorite Romanian apples ;-)

Apple Testing samples at 2011 UBC Apple Festival

You know that " An apple a day keeps the doctor away" ... so, see you there tomorrow!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park continues to be one of the most popular tourist attractions of Vancouver, whose history started in 1888, when George Grant Mackay set about purchasing and developing land and businesses among them Capilano Suspension Bridge, located today at 3735 Capilano Road in North Vancouver.

Our last visit at Capilano Suspension Bridgestarted with an infusion of Canadian History. We saw again the beautiful collection of totem poles made by First Nations of British Columbia, Canada when passing along the Story Center, Kia'palano and the Totem Park. We read in the Story Center that this Native Theme was added after 1930's, when Mac MacEachran invited First Nations to place their story poles in the Capilano Park. I really like to spend time looking at these colorful poles with finely chiseled features, reading the nearby plaques and thinking about the meaning behind them. This time I had with me the photo camera and I will let you see by yourself few pictures taken in our tour.

The Totem Park has an welcome log with "Capilano Suspension Bridge" carved on it and features authentic BC Totem Poles. The plaque that give general information about the native Kia'palano',
is proclaiming them as "BC's earliest human connection to nature".

The following text is from plaque at the totem pole display in Vancouver's Capilano Suspension Bridge Park:
" Poles are carved out of one tree and are accented with pieces of copper, shells, or, in this case, real human hair. The pole tells the story of an abandoned blind man saved from starvation by a bear who brought him fish to eat. The blind man's descendents became known as the Bear Clan."

2. The Raven Story Pole:

The Raven Story Pole

Text from the plaque at the totem pole display:
"Ravens frequently appear in First Nations' stories and are often featured on poles.This pole tells the story of a selfish chief who long ago had stolen the sun, moon, and starts and was keeping them in a box in his home. Raven, being a trickster and lover of shiny things, swooped in, grabbed the sun in his beak and dropped it in the sky, returning light to the world."

Wolf Guardian Pole

3. The Wolf Guardian Pole

The plaque at the totem pole display reads as follows:

"All poles tell stories. The story, depicted in this pole tells of a family of fishermen who dramatically rescued a wolf drowning in the ocean. From that time on the wolf remained the loyal companion and guardian to the family who became known to their people as the Wolf Family."

4. The Honour of the Salmon Pole

The Honour of the Salmon Pole

The following text is from the plaque beside at the totem pole:

"This pole tells the story of how the eagle helped a blind man by fishing for him.The blind man's family then became known as the Eagle Family. Poles are the way that people of First Nations passed on legends such as this, which traditionally took weeks to tell at Potlatch feasts."

Centennial Pole (left) and Mosquito Pole (right)

5.Mosquito Pole

" This pole tells the story of a village that was terrorized by a giant cannibal. The cannibal was finally defeated and burned, but the villagers' triumph was short-lived when out of the ashes of the giant, mosquitoes were born. Like the cannibal, they take tiny bites of all humans. "

6. Centennial Pole

" This Pole was raised in 1989 to commemorate our 100th anniversary. The bottom figure is Sky Brother. His arms are outstreched in welcome. Traditionally a Sky Brother figure without arms is a warning not to proceed any further because danger lies ahead. Above Sky Brother is the killer whale, above that the grizzly bear and then finally, the raven is at the top."

Interesting seems that the "Pole carving tradition at Capilano continues" at the Kia'palano' First Nations' Cultural Center (as you can read on next plaque).

"In June 1993, native carvers James Lewis and Wayne Carluck began work on a series of Totem Poles for Capilano Suspension Bridge, continuing the long tradition of native carving in the park.Lewis and Carlick both studies under Taltan Tlingit master carver Dempsey Bob. The poles they have carved reflect the traditional skills, stories and artistic forms of their north coast native culture.As each pole is finished, the carvers raise their pole in a ceremony that combines traditional songs and dances with a spiritual blessing."

I was thinking about how great looks such a ceremony, but till I'll participate at such an event.... I will return soon to tell you our story about visiting the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and walking on suspended bridges and walkways during the Treetops Adventure and the new addition Cliffwalk journey.